Fraudster in £100k Diamond Ring Who Made Millions Out of Others’ Misery

Lorraine McLaren and her husband Edwin were seen as “saviours” to the cash-strapped homeowners who turned to them in desperation when financial difficulties struck.

But really Edwin used his financial know-how to dupe unsuspecting victims into signing over their houses, which were then sold from under them.

And Lorraine benefited from her husband’s fraudulent scheme to live it up in a £762,000 home in Bridge of Weir, Renfrewshire, with lavish holidays in Dubai and private schools for her kids.

Shameless Lorraine even splashed out on a ring worth £100,000 while her victims were left homeless.

The duplicitous pair were only caught out after one homeowner raised concerns with police after she didn’t get the full amount for her house in Cowdenbeath in 2012.

While Edwin was described as the “driving force” behind the £1.7million scheme, a judge said Lorraine, 55, must have known the money transferred into her bank account came from the proceeds of crime.

Following the original complaint, police realised there were more properties linked to the incident and transferred the investigation to the financial unit in Paisley, where many more victims were found.

At the height of the inquiry, more than 100 police officers were involved and the huge fraud was uncovered.

Using his expertise and financial background, Edwin, who was jailed for 11 years, put together the scheme using adverts in the national press advertising his business as a property solution or home sale solution for anyone struggling.

Most of the victims were vulnerable and in financial distress due to illness, bereavement or debt.

The McLarens would offer to buy their house or lend them money to clear their debts and told them he would have part-ownership of their property.

But really they were signing over the title deeds to their home, which would then be sold on and the McLarens would pocket the proceeds.

In other cases, they would drip-feed homeowners money but none of them received the amount they were expecting.

Prosecutors charged the pair with conning people out of their homes between 2008 and 2012, with 29 properties on the final indictment which resulted in Scotland’s longest-ever criminal trial.

At the end of the 20-month-court case Lorraine was convicted of two charges including mortgage fraud and money laundering and jailed for two-and-a-half years. She served nine months.

Lorraine admitted to the Crown that she had made £694,950 from criminal conduct.

But she didn’t go back to the palatial home in Quarriers Village she shared with her conman husband.

The five-bedroom house was seized by prosecutors and sold at a cut price last year.

The house, which boasted a cinema room, breakfast room and gated entrance, had fallen into disrepair and was sold for £150,000 less than Lorraine had paid for it.

The McLarens have previously appeared in court to moan that their home was about to be repossessed as the Crown battled to seize their assets under proceeds of crime laws.

Prosecutors calculated the pair had made £2.4million in their con but last August, they were ordered to pay back just £8000 in court.

But prosecutors have said they will continue to hunt down the missing millions and chase any assets to claw back the cash. Rather than show remorse for their crimes, at the confiscation hearings Lorraine claimed they hadn’t done much wrong.

She said: “We never killed anybody. We are not paedophiles. It was white-collar crime.”

Her husband, who is serving his time in a cushy open prison, moaned they were due money back in missing rent after letting tenants stay in their family home before it was seized.

McLaren admitted he’d made £1,722,366.64 during his “course of criminal conduct”.

However, from Lorraine they could get only £4215.38 and from Edwin £4000.

During the long-running proceeds of crime action, prosecutors wanted him to explain £9million which they say passed through his bank accounts.

Since her release from jail, Lorraine has been living in a small flat in Glasgow and has been spotted in the city driving around in a five-year-old BMW. Not quite the Bentley she was used to driving.

But one of her victims said: “She’s still got a fancy car and house to live in while her victims all ended up with nothing.

Their homes were ripped from under their feet so she could be dripping in diamonds and her kids at private schools.

“She’s not said sorry or feels any kind of remorse. They only feel sorry for themselves that they were caught and their luxury lifestyles ended.

“Nine months in prison doesn’t seem like a lot. Where’s all the money gone? I hope they got that ring from her and sold it too.”

Article credit: https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/scotlands-crime-queens-fraudster-100k-26324549